My Predictions for the Major Awards

Major League Baseball announced their finalists for the major awards from the 2014 season and I will take a stab at predicting who will win each individual award. Agree or disagree tell me about it in the comments section. Thanks guys! Enjoy.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
American League: Jose Abreu, Dellin Betances, Matt Shoemaker
National League: Jacob DeGrom, Billy Hamilton, Kolten Wong

MANAGER OF THE YEAR
American League: Mike Scioscia, Buck Showalter, Ned Yost
National League: Clint Hurdle, Bruce Bochy, Matt Williams

CY YOUNG
American League: Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber, Chris Sale
National League: Johnny Cueto, Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League: Michael Brantley, Victor Martinez, Mike Trout
National League: Clayton Kershaw, Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stanton

*The winners have been bolded and changed to RED. 

Jimmy Rollins Makes a lot of Sense For 2015

"I'm out of here, take over bro!" - Derek Jeter

With the sky as the limit when it comes to possibilities for the 2015 New York Yankees many around the Yankees blogosphere are throwing around names as potential replacements for Derek Jeter. One name that has not been mentioned enough that should be is Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rollins is in the final year of his contract with the Phillies worth $11 million and announced that he would be willing to waive his no trade clause to head to a contender. The Phillies have all but announced that the team is ready and willing to start a rebuilding process and unloading Rollins may be the first step in that process.

The cons for Rollins obviously start with his age, 36 by the time the season starts, but you must consider the fact that his defense has not regressed to the point of being a liability. Rollins also is more than adequate with the bat given his position as he posted a 102 wRC+ last season and would come with just a one year deal associated with him.

The free agent market for next season at shortstop does not look all that enticing but a lot can happen in 12 months and the Yankees will not find a better stop gap than Rollins. You know more or less what you are going to get out of Rollins and I'd rather have the certainty than to have to hope and pray that Stephen Drew or Asdrubal Cabrera bounce back from down seasons.

It won't cost much in terms of dollars or prospects for the Yankees to acquire Rollins from the Phillies and it makes a ton of sense for both teams. Make it happen Cash.

TGP Daily Poll: Yankees Will Terminate Alex Rodriguez's Contract

With the new information that was announced the New York Yankees will once again try and terminate the contract of Alex Rodriguez, and succeed. Bud Selig's last decision as Commissioner of Baseball.

Vote in our poll!

MLB Trade Rumors Predicts Arbitration Salaries

MLB Trade Rumors is at it again predicting all the arbitration salaries for the 2015 season. CLICK HERE to view the whole post and give those guys a view or two and see below as I plucked the Yankees related material as an excerpt. Enjoy.

Yankees (7)

• Shawn Kelley (5.128) – $2.5MM
• Francisco Cervelli (4.146) – $1.1MM
• Esmil Rogers (4.088) – $1.9MM
• Ivan Nova (4.024) – $3.3MM
• Michael Pineda (3.099) – $2.1MM
• David Huff (3.062) – $700K
• David Phelps (2.156) – $1.3MM

Gardner: I'll Be 100% in Next Week or Two

After undergoing successful surgery to repair a core muscle in his ribs last month, Yankees' OF Brett Gardner isn't worried.

Gardner, 31, instead told MLB Network Radio earlier today that he expects to be fine within the month. According to ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews, the recovery period for the procedure is just four weeks, a timetable that should align itself nicely with the veteran's usual offseason program.

"I think that here in the next week or two, I'll be pretty darn close to 100 percent and just be able to go through my normal offseason routine," Gardner said. "That's one of the reasons we just went ahead and got it done after the season."

Gardner said that, in missing the postseason, he and the Yankees have a longer time off than they would prefer. Nonetheless, he said that he can use that happening to his advantage.

"Obviously without making the playoffs, we got a much longer offseason than we would have liked," he said. "But it also gives me a little extra time on the front end to kind of get this thing taken care of and not have it be an issue next year."

The Yankees would likely miss Gardner's presence if he went down. He solidly batted .256 with 17 home runs and 58 RBIs for them in 2014, those last two stats being career-highs.

This Day in Major League Baseball History 11/6: Maddux is Golden Again

Surprisingly there was zero notable New York Yankees news on this day in history so I figured I would hit the high spots across Major League Baseball. Enjoy.

On this day in 2007 Greg Maddux broke a tie with Brooks Robinson and Jim Kaat when he won his 17th Gold Glove of his career. The 41 year old future Hall of Fame pitcher spent the 2007 season with the San Diego Padres and had won the award every season since 1990 with the exception of 2003 when the Braves Mike Hampton won the award.

Also on this day in 2007 in a 25-5 vote Instant Replay in a limited basis was approved by Major League Baseball. Replay was initially used to take a second look at home runs before it was expanded to the current state we see today.

Brett Gardner Had Abdominal Surgery

Brett Gardner apparently had abdominal surgery this offseason to fix a core muscle in his abdominal area. This could explain all the lower abdominal issues that Gardner had this season, no? Guess those muscles aren't used to hitting 15 home runs a season. Anyway, here is the press release from the Yankees:

Yankees OF Brett Gardner underwent surgery to repair a core muscle injury to his right rectus abdominis muscle on October 16. The surgery was performed by Dr. William Meyers at the Philadelphia Vincera Institute in Philadelphia, PA.

Gardner would need four weeks of recovery time to begin baseball activities and the surgery happened three weeks ago so we should see a 100% healthy Gardner in spring training 2015.

Sports Illustrated: Top 50 Free Agent Rankings

On Monday we looked at MLB Trade Rumors predictions and rankings for the Top 50 free agents this offseason and where the crew thinks they will land. Today we will look at the list that Sports Illustrated released to compare. CLICK HERE to see the full article but I have picked the Yankees related excerpts for you here.

MAX SCHERZER

Position: SP | Age: 30

Current Team: Tigers

Best Fit: Yankees

2014 Stats: 18-5, 3.15 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 10.3 K/9

Scherzer bet on his health and his performance by turning down the Tigers' reported offer of a six-year, $144 extension last March. We've got a winner. He exceeded 30 starts for the sixth straight year, and he even surpassed the standard he set during his Cy Young-winning 2013 in a few ways, including strikeout rate and innings pitched. Now he's in line for a richer deal and can play where he chooses. Rather than list the reasons why he'll end up in New York, it might be easier to ask: Why wouldn't he end up in New York?

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  HANLEY RAMIREZ

  Position: SS | Age: 30

  Current Team: Dodgers

  Best Fit: Yankees

  2014 Stats: .283 BA, .817 OPS, 13 HR, 71 RBI, 14 SB

  Ramirez is the scariest type of free agent. He is a player whose superior talent will earn him lots of money for a long time, but who has at various points had issues with attitude, effort and injury (he's missed at least 34 games in three of the past four years), and who is no longer exactly young. Still: the talent. You might have heard that the Yankees need a shortstop, and while Ramirez should really be playing third at this point in his career, the shortstop market is thin, especially after the Orioles resigned free-agent-to-be J.J. Hardy in September. They could turn to Ramirez, with the idea that he'd move fifty feet to his right after a few years.

Watch the Entire Game 6 of the 2009 World Series Here

I know I am a couple days late on this but there has actually been stuff to talk about in the news and such. On this day yesterday in 2009 the New York Yankees were back on top of the baseball world when they captured their 27^th World Series championship in a six game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Watch the entire series clinching victory here on the blog. Don’t let the boss catch you. Enjoy. 

Which Top 10 Free Agents Should the Yankees Sign?

The offseason is upon us and the hot stove is warming up as the World Series is over and it’s time for qualifying offers, arbitration, and free agency. The Top 10 free agents always have the biggest names and biggest contracts every season and the Yankees always seem to be right in the middle of the ruckus every single year. The Top 10 free agents this season, in no particular order, include Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, James Shields, Melky Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Yasmany Tomas, Nelson Cruz, and Russell Martin. Which free agent should the Yankees sign?

This space was left intentionally blank because I don’t think the Yankees should sign any of them. The more I see and the more I read about Ramirez the more I want to walk away. The rest seem like potentially the next in line of terrible contracts I will be complaining about on the blog in four or five years. The Yankees should stay away from the top heavy free agents and contracts and go middle of the road and for the right fit this time around. Throwing money at people is not working anymore and it’s time to try something new. Try something that the St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, and others are doing rather than what we have been doing for the last 50 years, it may work.